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From
the Paris Appeal
17
Feb 1898
Don't
Go to the Klondike
Hon.
George W. Young, Congressman Bodine's law partner,
returned to his home at Paris, Mo. last week , after
an absence of six months in Alaska. On August 4 of
last year he was grub-staked by a company of Paris
capitalists composed of Hon. R.N. Bodine, Dr. F.M.
Moss, Judge D. H. Moss and H. G. Stavely, and started
for Dawson City to prospect for gold. His return was
entirely unexpected, no one knowing he was on the way
back until he reached Seattle. Since his arrival in
Paris he has been besieged by prospective gold seekers
and the account he gives of his observations in the
Klondike has had a tendency to chill their ardor. Mr.
Young said:
"It
took me nine weeks to make the trip from Paris, Mo.,
to Dawson City, and if I live to be 100 years old I
will never forget that journey. I went by the Skagway
trail. At that time it was one struggling mass of
excited gold seekers, and was strewn with horses that
had been killed, crippled or abandoned. After a series
of hardships that no man could describe I reached the
lake and made the rest of the trip down the Yukon with
comparative ease. When I reached Dawson City in
October, winter had already set in and fully 1000 men
had been forced to leave for Fort Yukon by high prices
and scarcity of food. My brother, whom I had expected
to join had gone to Fort Yukon several weeks before,
after locating and prospecting a claim that proved to
be worthless. The stores had long before quit filling
orders for supplies, and I could not have bought
enough food for a month, even if I had begged for the
privilege on my knees. Flour was $12.00 per 100
pounds, beans 10 cents a pound, and coffee, tea, bacon
and other provisions $1.00 a pound.
The
stores still had a limited amount of supplies, but
were holding them for those who had been in the
country all season and who were depending on them, and
even they could only get a small amount per week. A
new comer or tenderfoot could not buy at any price.
Wages had been cut from $1.50 an hour to $1.00 an
hour, and there was work for only a limited number.
Many of the mines were not in operation because of the
10 percent royalty the Canadians government is
exacting on the gold taken out, the owners claiming
that at the present prices of supplies and labor they
cannot afford to operate their mines and pay royalty.
"
"
I remained in Dawson City six weeks. I found that the
richness of the country had been terribly exaggerated
and that we had only heard of the bright side of it. O
course there are a few mines that are making immense
yields, but there are also hundreds of claims on which
men have spent months of hard work and great sums of
money and have gotten no9thing in return. I know of
one man who worked for weeks and weeks sledding eighty
cords of wood to his claim and that was worth a small
fortune, and after a season of hard work he was poorer
than the day he started. Those who go this season
expecting to secure claims will be disappointed.
Everything within thirty-five miles of Dawson City has
been taken, and comparatively few of these will pan
out a fortune. Those who are starting now will get to
Dawson City early in the spring, two months before
supply boats are able to get up the river. They will
find no claims worth having, and no work to be had,
and unless they have plenty of provisions they will
find it the most expensive spot on earth in which to
exist. "
"
I found Dawson City to be a town of about 2500
inhabitants, 150 of whom were women. It had a
Catholic, Presbyterian and an Episcopal church, and
saloons, gambling halls and dance houses without
number. The commonest whisky and beer a man ever
swallowed retails at 50 cents a drink. Everything
considered, though, it is a very orderly place. The
place was about out of illuminating materials when I
left, several mines having shut down because no lights
could be obtained. I remained in Dawson City six
weeks, and the longer I stayed the more I became
convinced that there was no show for me to strike
anything."
"
On the 4th of December, in company with six
other men, I started back to the United States. We had
provisions enough of our own for the trip. They were
loaded on sleds and drawn by dogs. The day we left the
thermometer registered 60 degrees below zero. The
Yukon was frozen and we followed it back to the lakes
and crossed the Skagway pass. We met the two men
having 800 pounds of condensed or evaporated eggs on
sleds. The surest way to make money up there is to
take provision across the pass before spring and boat
them to Dawson City as soon as the ice begins to move.
Boats going down the Yukon will get in three weeks
before steamers can get up the river, and of course
will find a great demand for goods at big
prices."
Mr.
Young weights 50 pounds less than when he left Paris
in August.
(Courtesy
of Kathleen
Wilham) |
